i took this pic 2 weeks ago or so, when we had some snow. this is on cambridge street in boston (i wonder whether cambridge has a boston street? i actually dont think so... :)). although i walk here every now and then, i never noticed this faded mural before. its an old advertisement for quaker oats, "the world's breakfast" (yuk! defenitely not for me!). actually, if you look carefully, you see such faded advertisements on houses/buildings here and there, i like them, as they always look nicely old-fashioned. i was googling around to find more info on this specific one, but... nothing. i just found 2 other blogs that also pictured the one i have here, but no further info.
on wikipedia i did find that these are called ghost signs, brickads, or simply fading ads. the copied wiki-defenition: "a ghost sign is an old hand-painted advertising signage that has been preserved on a building for an extended period of
time. the signage may be kept for its nostalgic appeal, or simply
indifference by the owner." many of these signs were placed between the 1890s to 1960s, so this one might be decades old! in a time when billboards did not exist and there were no committees deciding as to whether a building would be ruined by such an advertisement or not...
i think they are interesting, its like peeking into another time, however briefly.... moreover, they are so much more interesting than huge mass-produced billboards! having never noticed this one before, i saw the exact same one somewhere in cambridge later that day, equally faded. from now on i will pay more attention to these signs, so perhaps i'll show you another one sometime...
for more murals, go here!
